Randagulf Begalin
' ' is the Atmoran Harbinger of the Companions. He was the chosen successor of the previous Harbinger, Labbi Battle-Born. Randagulf is considered by many as one of the mightiest warriors of his time. He is the patriarch of the ancient Clan Begalin that ruled as kings in Atmora. History Backstory Randagulf has been a part of the Companions almost all his life, joining as soon as he reached maturity. In the crew of Jorrvaskr he earned a reputation for his skills as a warrior and as a leader. By the time he was 22 he was the Huntmaster of Jorrvaskr. He started a family shortly after becoming Huntmaster and has a daughter named Elisiv Begalin. When the previous Harbinger, Labbi Battle-Born, died in 1E 119 he named Randagulf as his successor. Since then Randagulf has served as the example of what a Companion should be. He is the current de-facto patriarch of Clan Begalin, an old clan dating back to the Middle Merethic Era. Clan Begalin ruled the Atmoran region of Gardarike as kings, answering only to the dragons and their priests. Known for their ferocious warriors, Clan Begalin first came to Skyrim during the Return under Vust the Smiler, a Shield-Brother of Jeek of the River. They were one of the clans that signed the Confederacy Pact after the Dragon War. By the second century of the 1st Era, the royal line of the Begalins is said to continue ruling Gardarike's capital Holmsgard though because of their great distance to mainland Skyrim, Randagulf's line have acted as the de-facto heads of the clan for generations. Sometime in his youth Randagulf took part in a dragon hunt alongside Gunnar Battle-Born. The hunt did not go well for Randagulf, who was seriously injured during his fight with the dragon and nearly died if not for Gunnar having rescued him. Ballad of the High King Orcs of Akul Khazak Orcs had began to terrorize the lands of southern Blekva in greater numbers. The Jarl of the hold put out a bounty on them. Many Companions headed to take on the quest. The first three crews were those of the Ylgermet, the Nidhoggr and the Vedrfolnir. In fighting between the crews hindered their progress and allowed the Orcs to ambush them, killing Captain Heimir of the Nidhoggr. The survivors of the ambush sent a letter to Jorrvaskr for Randagulf, asking the Harbinger for help. He decided to help them, gathering together a small band and heading to the village of Sílfrisin where the survivors were staying. With him went his daughter, Elisiv Begalin. When he arrived at the village camp, he found the a brawl taking place. He broke it up. The Harbinger brought order to the camp and gathered the captains to figure out a plan for taking out the Orcs. They met in full view of the other crewmen and discussed the events of the previous ambush and how to deal with the Orcs. They explained the situation to him, but it turned into an argument. However, Randagulf kept them in line. By the time morning came, the Companions had a plan. The Harbinger had separated the Companions into 9 war parties, each with around 20-30 men and gave each of them a path to head up the mountain. Mixing up the crews was an unpopular plan as they weren't getting along, but Randagulf's authoritative approach was keeping them in line for now. He knew that he needed to get these men to fight together instead of fighting each other or the Orcs would smash them. The Harbinger had a scout from the Nidhoggr crew lead the party through the wilderness. The scout led Randagulf's party up the western path. There were 24 of them in the group. The Harbinger had seperated them into 4 half-dozen sized parties and spread them out through the path. This was to try to stop the whole group from getting surrounded all at once. As they were walking, however, one shield-sister's cub raised his head and ears and was looking them around as if he was trying to listen to something. They chose to follow the sabercat. After a few minutes, the humans heard the sounds two, sounds of battle. The group approached what looked like a plain rockface, but the sound was coming from it somewhere. It echoed around the area. A black-haired shield-brother used his Life Detection magic and saw that there was a cavern behind those rocks. The cub, Tannr, led them to the entrance of the cavern, a small crevasse on the side of the rock, hidden by perspective. The inside was lit by faint torchlight and they followed the tunnel to a chamber were a stranger was fighting four Orcs, with two already dead on the ground. The man's armor was covered in dry blood and he seemed to be surrounded by the Orcs. They charged in to help the bloodied man against the Orcs. The Companions outnumbered the Orcs and quickly overpowered them, letting the bloodied man finish off the last of them. The room they were in looked like a basecamp. Randagulf came to the conclusion that the Orcs must have made a network of tunnels in the mountain to easily travel without being seen and used it to ambush the Companions. The bloodied man was praying in an unknown language. Jofrodr, the black-haired shield-brother, questioned him and found out his name was Hans, but didn't learn any more than that. Hans left without resting and the Companions decided to follow him through the tunnels. Reyl, the shield-sister, didn't trust this stranger, but following the Harbinger nonetheless. Jofrodr asked Hans if he needed healing as he looked to be bleeding, but he refused. The Companions followed him despite their reservations about him. There was a lot of mystery around this man. Hans stopped and told them that there were Orcs ahead. They found a large mining chamber. Wooden platforms and stairs lined the sides of the chamber, where a group of Orcs were swinging away at ore veins. The humans put out their torches and ambushed the Orcs, with Hans jumping right into battle. Randagulf ordered his men to help the stranger in his assault. He charged into battle with his axe. Jofrodr followed the Harbinger into battle. Reyl used her magic to boost the strength and resistance of the humans while they killed the miners and the Orc guards in the chamber. Due to their surprise attack they suffered few losses, especially since most Orcs were ill-equipped. Hans had proved himself a brutal fighter and as soon as the fight was done he prayed in that same strange language. The man's helmet had been knocked off in the battle and revealed that he had white hair, red eyes and weathered skin. Jofrodr questioned him about his identity, but Hans only answered that the language he was speaking was that of the ancients. That angered Jof greatly, but Reyl got him to calm down. The Companions re-lit their torches and headed down the tunnel, catching up with Hans rather quickly as he headed further. They followed after the man for almost an hour, going through the network of mining tunnels in the mountain. They came into an intersection where the mining tracks made to bring mining carts along met. They were crude constructions, but still effective. Hans stopped and looked around. Tannr lifted his ears. Both of them clearly heard something. Jofrodr used his Life Detection to see what was up ahead and stated that there were Orcs ahead. Hans charged ahead at the dark tunnel to fight the Orcs. As he was getting close the light from his torch illuminated the section of tunnel and showed a group of Orcs chopping down the wooden structure holding the roof up. He wasn't fast enough to stop them and they destroyed the last of the structural pillars. The tunnel began to rumble as the pressure mounted on the unstable rocky roof. The Companions retreated to avoid getting crushed by the falling rubble, but Hans kept running and was separated from them by the collapsing tunnel. When they reached the mining chamber, they ran into Captain Bodvar Little-Bear and his war-party. They caught each other up and then went over the situation. The Orcs were trying to seal the tunnels to keep them from reaching the stronghold through the mines. The Harbinger split the Companions up further to increase their chances as they went searching for a way through before the Orcs blocked all the tunnels. Bodvar and the Harbinger's groups backtracked, while Elisiv's went through an adjacent unexplored path. Randagulf's party ran into a group of humans belonging to the Order of the Stormhawk and Relan Völundr, Iði Gray-Mane's old apprentice. The Stormhawks had discovered possible way to the stronghold so they lead the way. When they arrived at the mining chamber the Orcs spotted them and attacked. With the Companions aiding them, the Stormhawks were able to break through the mouth of the tunnel and make their way down to the bottom floor where a tunnel linked up to the mine exit. During the fight, Randagulf discovered that Relan could summon Daedra, shocking him. Though initially put off by this, the Companions learned to fight alongside the daedric servant. They found that the Orcs there were being attacked by another group, Elisiv's party. Together the Companions overwhelmed the Orcs from both sides and killed them all. Randagulf and Elisiv's groups tried to caught each other up, he told them that he found the Stormhawks and they had joined their war effort. However, their conversation was cut short as the Orcs tried to cut off their only advance into the stronghold. Luckily for the Companions, Jofrodr used his telekinesis magic to hold the tunnel roof in place. He urged his companions to go on without him. Elisiv followed her father's charge into the last mining chamber before it collapsed behind them when Jofrodr's magicka ran out. In the last mining chamber they found the largest group of Orcs thus far led by the Orc Champion and a Red-skinned Orc. The Companions formed a shieldwall to protect themselves from the Orc archers and warriors. The Orcs charged at them, but with Reyl's magic boosting their strength the Companions managed to hold them back. The Harbinger was shot by arrows, but Reyl managed to heal him. He saw that his daughter was in danger so he helped her duel against the Orc Champion. He pushed the champion back and then fought off the red she-Orc that was overpowering his daughter. He held his own against the Orc, but she managed to deal serious injuries to him due to her strength. Luckily for him Reyl healed him to allow him to wear the Orc down with his superior fighting prowess. He forced the Orc to retreat at about the same time that Reyl and the Stormhawk mage blew up barrels of oil and killed many of the Orcs. That dealt a crushing blow to the Orc warriors. The battle in the mines was gruesome, with many Companions meeting their end, but the Atmorans were able to defeat the Orcs. They did not rest, instead they headed outside into the stronghold and found that it was ablaze and in the middle of a battle. Other Companions led by Captain Bodvar had attacked the Orcs' home and were fighting in the longhouse's courtyard. Harbinger Randagulf led the survivors of the mining tunnels into the battle, attacking the Orcs on their flank. Their arrival turned the tide of the battle, which had been in the favor of the Orc Chief. The Harbinger took command of the Companion crews, which were without two of their captains. The battle ended when Tiskr dealt the final blow to the Orc Chief. The rest of the Orcs were slaughtered and their stronghold burned to the ground. The Companions recovered after the massive battle, burying their dead, counting the kills, looting the stronghold and resting. Once they had done this the crews split up and went their separate ways. Randagulf sent a small party to Dagastar to collect their reward while he returned to Drakefell with the other Jorrvaskr companions. Kal Curse-Bringer, a female mercenary that Elisiv had grown fond of, came with them. Calm before the Storm Once they arrived at Drakefell, Elisiv Begalin showed Kal Curse-Bringer around the city and she was allowed to stay in the Jorrvaskr mead hall by the captain of the crew, Gunnar Battle-Born, as a guest. After the envoy returned with their reward from the Jarl, Kal decided not to leave and instead to join the Companions. Elisiv vouched for her skills, as did the Harbinger. Gunnar accepted her request and had her fight the crew's huntmaster, Gudmund the Deathless, to prove her skill. Gudmund underestimated Kal in his inebriated state and she was able to win their duel to first-blood and obtain membership into the Jorrvaskr crew as a hunter. Randagulf met a peculiar mage by the name of Lars Sun-Laud and his compatriot Fjol, both of whom had watched the fight. Days later news from Vindhelm came, Jarl Harald Word-Bringer had declared war on the Snow Elves and sent out a call to arms to all true sons of Skyrim. The Harbinger and Captain Gunnar immediately accepted the call as the Companions had been founded to fight the Snow Elves to begin with and they saw it as their duty to answer the Jarl's call to arms. Lars entered the mead hall when Randaguld was in the middle of a conversation with Captain Gunnar. Lars questioned him about the coming war. They discussed Jarl Ivar River-Drake's militia, which he was conscripting to bolster his forces. Lars wasn't too pleased that the Jarl wanted to use commonfolk in the war, neither were the Companions, but none of them could do anything about it. The Jarl was within his rights and he would not listen to any of their council. Lars decided to join the war effort, if only to help reduce the unnecessary deaths of innocent people. Gunnar questioned Lars about his origins, but the mage dodged the question and instead asked the Harbinger with aid in training for the war. Randagulf and Gunnar agreed to allow Lars to train with the Companions at their mead hall as they saw it as a good way to get the men used to fighting mages. He was introduced to the rest of the Companions and began training that same day. His first opponent was Elisiv. He dueled the Shield-Sister in the training yard to first blood. She was much more nimble and experienced in dueling than him, but Lars was able to use his shock mage to get the upperhand, stunning her and allowing the mage to knock her off her feet and leave a cut on her arm. The fight ended there. The other Companions, that had been observing the fight, were displeased with Lars' use of magic and called it dishonorable, but Gunnar chastized them for not realizing that elves would be doing the same when they fought in the war. Lars continued to train with the Companions as they prepared for the coming war. He also maintained his friendship with the Harbinger. In one of their chats Randagulf mentioned someone that he had met recently that spoke in a similar strange manner to Lars, Hans. The mage was interrested in learning more about this Hans, but Randagulf wasn't able to help him any further as he had no idea where Hans was. The Falmer War The preparation for the war lasted until the end of the summer, when the Companions and Jarl Ivar River-Drake finally set off from Drakefell to the city of Vindhelm. They loaded up onto boats and sailed down the White River. Lars Sun-Laud went on the Harbinger's boat. They had to make a stop at the waterfall that marked the border of the two holds to unload the ships and helping to carrying them to the Ostmark Basin to continue the trip through the river. Once they arrived in Vindhelm they set up camp on the opposite side of the river from the city, beside the Jarl's forces. There were numerous camps of people from all over Skyrim outside the city. Soon after the Companions arrived at the eastern city, the Harbinger and Captain Gunnar were summoned to the Vindhelm Palace by Jarl Harald Word-Bringer to meet with the other army leaders and discuss the strategy and logistics of the coming war. They met in the feast hall, where the long tables had been arranged into a ''U shape with the Jarl's high seat being in the middle of the curve. A constant stream of warriors entered the hall and took their seats until all the leaders were present. Among them were Harald's vassals, other nobles from other holds - including Jarl Ivar -, the captains of the various Companion crews, the Arch-Mage of the College and Jarl Harald. It was the greatest collection of warriors gathered together in recent memory. Harald welcomed the great leaders to his city, personally greating all of them. Randagulf found it an honor to be inside the halls of Ysgramor and the young Jarl returned the greeting, saying it was a great honor to meet the Harbinger who was said to be Skyrim's greatest warrior. After the extensive introductions, they began to discuss the war plans for the imminent invasion. He shared the reports that his scouts had gathered about the Snow Elf defenses. There were two primary fortresses that guarded Mereth's borders and Harald planned to seperate the forces gathered into two warbands to attack the elven nation from both the north and the west. They went over the timing and the routes of attack on the map. Everyone seemed to be in agreement, which was surprising. The Atmoran leaders went over the important details of their invasion: their priority targets, where they would set up forward camps and where their supply routes would continue. War was a complicated business and none of them were under the impression that this war would be over quickly. It took their ancestors years to conquer Skyrim from the elves and even then it was decades before more remote places like Solstheim were finally taken and during all the time they were never able to take the southern reaches of the Rift. It was when they got to the more minutiae details that the arguments began. Jarl Harald had tried to seperate the forces, combining the smaller parts into larger warbands so that there wouldn't be any obvious weakpoints in their invasion. The captains, who were used to acting independently, and the nobles were against Harald's orders. Though after careful negotiations Harald was able to calm them down and succeeded in seperating the forces into the two warbands with himself leading the northern warband and Randagulf leading the western warband. With the meeting concluded, Harald held a large feast to bring the men together and attempt to force them to bond over drinks. Randagulf stayed and enjoyed the feast before returning to the Jorrvaskr camp. At the camp, Lars met with Randagulf to discuss the details of the war with him. The Harbinger answered the mage's questions as well as he could after having drunk a few mugs of mead. After their meeting, Lars decided to join Randagulf's warband, even though Jarl Ivar and his militia were to be placed in the other warband. The Harbinger also told him about the young Jarl Harald and how he had fought and killed a dragon. It reminded Randagulf of his youth and his own experience with a dragon, though his experience ended very differently. They set off for war a few days later, after the planning for the war concluded. Harbinger Randagulf had been put in charge of half of the Atmoran army. His warband was comprised of the Companion forces, half of Jarl Harald's army under command of Thane Skorm Snow-Strider and a few others smaller armies. Randagulf's warband set up camp on the shores of the Lake Geir beside the tower fort of Nilheim, having arrived there after a three week journey. They built longboats from the nearby trees during the next week. Once enough ships for the army had been made they set off across the lake and into the River Treva towards the elven fortress of Vetudar. The fleet encountered elven scouts along the shores of the river and became worried that the elves were planning something. Randagulf ordered them ashore and set up a scouting party to find out what the elves were up to. The party was led by his daughter, Elisiv Begalin, and contianed Lars and three other Companions. Personality Randagulf was raised among warriors, as such he was taught to be courageous and ferocious in battle. As an Atmoran he puts a great importance in honor. He is a very honest man, never telling lies and never trying play dirty. His time as a leader in the Companions has given him an aura of authority that he uses to get the rowdy members of his crew in line. When Randagulf speaks, everyone listens. Because of this authority and his deeds, everyone holds a lot of respect for him. Statistics *Attributes: Strength, Personality *Major Skills: Master Leadership, Master Two-Handed (Axe), Expert Hand-to-Hand, Expert One-Handed (Blades), Adept Light Armor *Minor Skills: Atheletics, Block, Survival *Powers: Rugged, Battle Cry, Onslaught *Equipment: Atmoran Armor, Fists of Randagulf (Fortifies Strength and Agility), Skyforge Steel Battleaxe, Skyforge Steel Dagger, Fur Cloak. Trivia *Randagulf is a lore character first mentioned in TES III: Morrowind. **His gauntlets are artifacts found in the same game: Fists of Randagulf. *The kingdom of the Begalins in Atmora is based on the real life Garðaríki. Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Atmorans Category:Companions Category:Warriors